Comments:Very good condition. Good margins. Printed on light weight off-white laid paper. Remnants of old matting tape on the upper left and right corners, coming to within 1/4 inch (6 mm) of the upper left corner of the impression. This problem is over-matted. One other small piece of matting tape is found at the lower right corner of the sheet, but is well away from image. Small specks of inked wood dot the sky.

An early print of the Dust Bowl and coincident erosion. As the title describes, the image depicts erosion activity in an Oklahoma wash. 1934 marked the first year of a severe multi-year drought, Erixon, an instructor in the Art Department at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, was obviously in tune with the problems occurring in her State and here illustrated one problem of Oklahoma's "Dirty Thirties."

Very little information exists on this artist and most of the information presented here comes from genealogical research. In 1926, she was a graduate of the University of Oklahoma's School of Fine Arts (BFA to Florence Mercedes Erixon), overseen by Oscar Jacobson. Possibly prior to her degree she was hired by the Art Department as Head of Art Education. On December 24, 1928, she married Dr. Adelbert Hoshall, and off and on over the years seems to have worked under the names, Mercedes Erixon, Mercedes Erixon Hoshall, or Mercedes Hoshall. In 1935, Dr. Hoshall opened and orthopedic practice in Charleston, South Carolina. Shortly thereafter Mercedes handed in her resignation to the University and moved to South Carolina where she remained until her death in 1994. In 1938 she illustrated a small book (Radium: Lost and Found) under the name Mercedes Hoshall. In the early 1930s she used the name Mercedes Erixon when signing her work.

This particular print is presented with a Kansas City Art Institute exhibit tag. The exhibit tag is not dated but probably stems from about the time the print was created.